Log in

Letter from Jinotepe

I really can´t think of anything cool to say right now... what a bummer! I´ve been in classes all day focussing on sustainable development- mainly comparing developmental philosophies and discussing positive historical lessons. It was actually really interesting, and I really want to see how the lessons play out once Im at my site. Development is one area that I think I might want to do work in once I finish this program... so its cool to get both the theoretical and real experience in it.

Other than that the most interesting thing of late was the funeral of a family friend on Sun. There was a long visitation and a procession to the cemetary for burial. All and all it was pretty cool to be accepted into a community event, but really sad too. I mean obviously- it was a funeral. The guy was 27 and left 3 kids behind. Why did he die? Drugs (marijuana) and Alchohol (thats the way everyone describes it). He hit his head in the street (I think).

Also this weekend they´re celebrating the fiesta patronales- or the party of the patron saint. I´ll give you one guess to who the patron saint of Santa Teresa is. If you still don´t know- Its Saint Teresa. All week long there are cultural dances and there are going to be a lot of parties this weekend. The big culminating event is the Hipita- which is an event in which a bunch of people ride around on prancing horses while drunk. At least thats what I understand of it. We´ll see what actually happens.

I´ll hopefully write later about some of the health projects I´m working on. For now just trust that they´re really cool.